Ranchers Protest Greenbelt Proposal

Santa Clara Valley ranchers lashed out Wednesday at a new plan to designate more than 40,000 acres of farmland near here as an agricultural greenbelt.

A voter-backed proposal to indefinitely protect a vast swath of the valley from development prompted bitter protest from most of the 11-person Santa Clara Valley Advisory Committee.

“Farmers are real leery of anything that [brings] any more restrictions and regulations on their land,” said Joanne King, vice chairwoman of the committee, which dispenses advice to city and county leaders on farmland issues. “As a group, we’re coming into it with a fairly negative feeling.”

The position differs from that of the county Farm Bureau, which in 1997 first proposed creating the greenbelt--spanning 13 miles from the city limits east to the Los Angeles County line.

Rex Laird, executive director of the bureau, said the proposed greenbelt is a crucial step in protecting the long-term economic viability of agriculture in Ventura County.

“It gives some integrity to the land use process,” he said. “It’s a new generation of greenbelts.”

But most of the farmers Wednesday night feared that the plan would take away landowners’ rights to exercise control over their own property.

“Times have changed,” Fillmore farmer Don Haase said. “Farming is not going to be economically viable in the future. What if we wanted to develop on our land?”

Bardsdale rancher Martha Gentry also challenged the proposal.

“I don’t see the urgency because of SOAR,” she said, referring to a measure that requires voter approval for any agricultural zone changes.

“Who wants a greenbelt? We already have one bureaucracy; why do we need another?” Haase asked.

Laird said the plan has been in the works for years, adding that opponents should have voiced such concerns sooner.

The Fillmore City Council is expected to vote on the matter as early as next month after the committee makes an official recommendation. The council and the county are expected to consider the committee’s suggestions.

“If someone objects to it at this time, they’ve been out of the loop,” Laird said. “It’s not like this has been a secret. . . . I’m terribly disappointed after 2 1/2 years.”

The opposition also disappoints Supervisor Kathy Long, whose district includes the lush Santa Clara Valley. Long said she wants to finalize the greenbelt agreement by year’s end.

It would be the county’s first move to carry out the wishes of the 69% of local voters who supported Measure A on November’s ballot. The advisory measure seeks to make six current informal greenbelt agreements legally binding and create another five greenbelts--including the Fillmore-Piru acreage.

“This is the litmus test,” Long said. “This could be just the beginning. The city of Camarillo is interested in drawing up the same kind of boundary lines in the Las Posas Valley.”

Long said the greenbelt ordinance would send a powerful message to Newhall Land & Farming Co., which plans a 70,000-resident community nearby in Los Angeles County. It also owns more than 10,000 acres of adjacent citrus orchards this side of the county line that it would eventually like to build on.

“This is that extra hammer that says we’re serious,” Long said. “We’re here to protect the Santa Clara Valley.”

Newhall Ranch Executive Vice President Steve Zimmer, who attended the meeting, suggested that the committee take more time to study the greenbelt issue.

“How can a group like this make a recommendation when we haven’t even seen the [proposed] greenbelt ordinance?” Zimmer asked. “Depending on the language, the Board of Supervisors could have absolute veto power over it.”

Councilman Scott Lee and Kevin McSweeney, a city planner, said that the ordinance is still being drafted and that they would provide the group with preliminary copies by early next month.